


Homecoming.

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Series: Returned [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 14 year old Lily, 5 year old James and David, Child Abduction, Dragon Queen - Freeform, F/F, Family, Fluff, Gen, James and David are Mal's sons, Kidnapping, Kids, Mal and Regina are engaged, Past Child Abuse, Returning Home, Twins, prompts wanted, the kids are all dragons but only Lily is old enough to turn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 17:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: Mal's life was going well, she had an 8 year old daughter, Lily, and two newborn twins, James and David. Her life was going well.Then tragedy strikes, her sons are kidnapped, with no leads of trace.Nearly six years later the boys are found.





	Homecoming.

Maleficent had been waiting for this phone call for nearly six years, but at the same time she thought it would never come, hell, she had nearly given up hope. 

“Mom why can’t I come I want to see them-!” 

“No, Lily.” Mal was never usually that sharp with her but today was different, she was a mess of emotions, she didn’t know what to say or do other than to make sure her fourteen year old would be safe and get to the station. “They’ll, They’ll be a home later, just please stay with Gina, I need to know you’ll be safe, I promise you’ll see them.” 

Lily clearly wasn’t happy with this arrangement, but she stayed with her mother’s fiancee, she wasn’t about to make this harder for her mother. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Mal was shown to a waiting room at the station by a detective, they had told her to rush in on the phone, but now they filled her in on the details. 

_Nearly six years before she had given birth to twin boys, she had known they would be part dragon like she and her daughter were as she had laid them in eggs, she had been gifted a necklace years before which could tell the sex of the baby, she had used it on Lily’s egg, and one of the twin’s eggs, but the youngest and scarily small egg she had wanted to be a surprise. When the twins were born James was first then a couple of days later the smaller twin was born, another boy, she named them James and David respectively._

_ Lily had been overjoyed to be a big sister for the first three months the seven year old had tried to help her mom do absolutely everything with the boys, she loved her half brothers more than anything, that much was clear. One of her favourite things about her baby brothers was that like her they had birthmarks, James had a crown one and David had a star one.  _

_ Mal loved her three children more than she had ever loved anyone before… and she was getting a lot closer to her friend Regina, she had a big house which was perfect for her family, she barely ever had to turn into a dragon anymore, she used her magic for good, she was a lawyer fighting for good against all the injustices in the world: Her life was perfect. _

_ She laid the two babies down in their cribs when they were three months old and fell asleep.  _

_ When she woke up they had gone, they had been taken, her babies had been taken from her.  _

_ She had searched, Regina had searched, the police, detectives, everyone. Her magic hadn’t been able to find them, Regina’s magic didn’t find them, nothing could.  _

The detective had explained that the babies had been trafficked, they were kept together until they were four, in a physically and verbally abusive home, the father had expected that as half dragons the boys would be able to find treasure, but when they didn’t he turned abusive to them, particularly to David. James had been given to a rich family when he was four. His new father was emotionally and verbally abusive, but luckily for James he wasn’t around too much. Apparently after that it got a whole lot worse for David. 

Mal was crying as it was explained to her how hard her babies lives had been. 

Now they had been saved, but they wouldn’t know who she was, and they had been deeply affected by the abuse. 

 

* * *

 

“Ms, erm Maleficent.” 

“Mal.” She responded automatically.

“Mal,” The young detective smiled warmly at her, “the doctors have checked them over, if you would like to follow me, I can lead you to your boys.” 

Mal shot up. “How- How are they, are they okay?” 

“They’re pretty quiet, they’ll need a lot of help through this, we’ve explained to them everything, as much as we could.” 

Mal nodded her head, she was finally going to see her baby boys, but would they remember her? No, definitely not, they had been gone too long and young. But she still had unachievable hope.

 

* * *

  
  


“James? David? This is the woman I told you about, this is your mommy.”

Mal’s voice caught in her throat, sat on the couch were two boys, Mal knew they were a few months away from being six, but they didn’t look it, they looked younger, one was bigger than the other. They hadn’t grown properly thanks to the life they had been forced into, they were dishevelled and a bit mucky with bruises. But despite all that, they were absolutely beautiful. They were pretty much identical but James had short hair while David’s wasn’t quite so short, long enough that his blonde curls had come out. James looked up at her and she saw that he had blue eyes, so David must have too, she realise that they took after her as much as Lily had taken after her father.  It was only then that she realised that the boys were holding their plushies she had made them, though a little more worn now, a puppy and teddy respectively. Her hand went to her mouth letting out a small gasp and David moved a little closer to James. 

She quickly schooled her features and walked over to crouch in front of her boys. 

“H-Hi. I’m so happy to see the two of you, I-I’m your mommy, you can call me mommy or you can call me Mal if that makes you both more comfortable.” 

There was a beat of silence. “I’m James. That’s David, he’s not talking ‘cause he’s scared.” 

“No I’m not!” David protested for the first time, glaring at James.” 

“Hey, hey, hey.” Mal hushed. “It’s okay. You’re  _ both _ allowed to be scared, I know this must be very scary.” 

“Are you scared?” 

Mal was surprised when David asked that, it was clear that he was very scared and worried, but he also sounded caring. She smiled gently at the two of them and carefully placed her hands on either of their knees. “I am a little. I’ve been looking for the two of you for so long that I’m scared that you might not like me, I don’t want to upset or scare you.” 

“……Are you really our mommy.” 

“I am, you were taken from me when you were very very little.” 

“My mommy died when I was little.” 

“My mommy gave me away.” 

That stung Mal. She knew that they didn’t remember her as their mother, another woman had been, as the detectives had explained to her. “That lady, she, she was your mommy too because she looked after you. But I’m also your mommy because I carried you when you were tiny before you, before you became my little eggs, and because I’ve missed you so much for all these years, and I’ve never stopped looking for you, because I love you both so so much. It’s okay if you’ve had another mommy too and it’s okay if you need time to get used to me.” 

Both the boys calmed a little, David bit his lip and James picked at his nails, but neither pushed her hand away. 

“Can I, I can show you, if you like?” 

“How?” 

“Well, I have magic, because sometimes I can turn into a dragon they go together.” 

“You’re a dragon?” 

Mal was expecting David to be scared but apparently not, his eyes were wide in excitement instead. “Yes, Honey, I am. When you’re bigger like, when you’re bigger you’ll both be able to turn into one if you want to. You have a big sister called Lily and she can turn into a dragon too, she’s just started learning how to.” 

“Can we see?” David’s voice was nervous, not used to being able to ask for things, it was scary but the lady, his mommy apparently, didn’t seem to be mean like his daddy was. 

“Of course, sweetheart, Jamie would you like to see too?”

“Yeah.” James was eager, more enthusiastic than David, he had gone years without a mommy, truthfully he was happy to be away from George and Mal seemed nice.

Mal took their tiny hands in each of her own. 

The boys closed their eyes as they watched. 

_ Mal was a human like she was now, she was hugging a little girl, calling her Lily, she showed her two dragon’s eggs, like they had seen in storybooks. The two sang and read to the books, along with another lady who was sometimes there. They watched as the first bigger egg hatched. Mal called him James, she wrapped him in a blue blanket and rocked him to sleep before putting him in a crib which had his puppy plushie in. She rocked, cuddled, and cared for him as they waited for the other egg to hatch, when it finally did she was surprised for an identical boy, “David”. Lily loved her little brothers and was constantly helping Mal cuddle, sing, bathe, and look after them. Then one night Mal placed them in their cribs with their blankies and their teddy and puppy, but when she woke up, they were gone. They watched her searching for them, crying for them,  but they were nowhere.  _

 

The boys were quiet as they came out of the vision. James broke the silence, eventually. “That was my puppy.”

“And my teddy.” 

“They were, I made them for you both, when you were just little eggs. I put a D for David and a J for James on their bottoms so you’d always know that they were yours.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the two blankets, the two knitted blankets had outlines of ducks on them in white, along with their names and dates of birth. “Your sister Lily had a duck teddy when she was little, her favourite one, she chose these for you.” 

The boys both took their blankets. 

 

* * *

 

 

It was another few hours before Mal and the boys were allowed to go home, Mal magicked up car seats for the two, James piped up that he was hungry so she headed for the drive-thru not far from their home, she ordered her own, Regina’s, and Lily’s usual orders, it stung that she had to ask them what they liked, and even more that James had only had fast food twice and that David didn’t know or understand what was going on as he hadn’t been to one before. 

 

* * *

 

“Mom, you’re home!” Lily had probably never been so happy to see her mother, her soon to be stepmom was close behind her, Regina had managed to mostly distract her while they were waiting for Mal to come home but it was clearly on both of their minds.

Mal felt the boys edge back at the shout, and appearance of the teen, until they were pressed against her legs. She crouched down in between the two of them. “James, David,” she looked at them each in turn to let Regina and Lily know which was which, “this is Lily, your big sister.” 

Lily took her mother’s lead and moved closer slowly then crouched down in front of her brothers. “Hey Jamie, Hey Davey, I’ve missed you guys lots. I know you guys won’t be able to remember me but me and Gina sorted you guys out a bedroom, it’s right next to mine, we can play or something if you like.” 

“Thank you, Lily.” And Mal meant it, she apologised with her eyes for snapping earlier but the 14 year old clearly understood. “You can show me and the boys after dinner, we got burgers, didn’t we boys.”

Both the boys nodded and made an “Uh huh” noise each. 

“Boys, this is Regina, she’s my, well we’re going to be married soon. She lives here with us and she’s known you since you were only very small, and she loves you both as much as me and Lily.”

Regina joined the others crouched on the ground next to the boys. “Hi there sweeties. Did you help choose the burgers for us?”

“Kinda?” James offered hopefully. 

“No we did-” David’s voice was as worried as James’ was hopeful. 

“-Shush David.” 

“Guys, guys, guys, it’s okay.  It’s okay, you don’t have to try and say the right things here, you won’t get hurt or in trouble like, like you did.” She cuddled them close to her sides and pressed kisses onto the sides of their heads. 

“How about we all have some food?” Regina suggested trying to lighten the mood. She magicked up the food from Mal’s car and led Lily to the dining room, with Mal leading the boys by hand. 

 

* * *

 

Dinner was a somewhat awkward event, they tried to make it as normal as possible, lightly peppering the boys with questions about themselves and what they liked to do, though it was clear that they didn’t really know, it made sense considering David had barely ever left the house he was kept in, and James only a few more times. Lily managed to keep up the conversation by talking about how her and Regina had gone shopping for some clothes and toys and how she had helped use her magic to add things to the bedroom she thought they might like. The boys seemed a bit more relaxed than they were when they had first entered the house, despite that it still took Regina and Mal over ten minutes to convince the boys that they didn’t have to eat it all if they were full. 

 

* * *

  
  


The boys were nearly asleep by the time they left the table. 

“Let’s get you both in a bath, yeah? We have bubbles too.” 

She shepherded the boys up the stairs showing them into the family bathroom with its big bath. She started off the water and tried to find the bubble bath Lily had bought which was strawberry smelling, she figured the boys would prefer that over the floral ones. 

Lily knocked on the doorframe. The boy’s heads snapped at the noise. “Hey, I, erm, I can get James and David their pyjamas, and show them their bedroom?” 

Mal bit her lip, she knew she would have to let them out of her sight eventually, but now it came to it she wasn’t sure she could. 

“That sounds like a good idea.” Regina encouraged walking into the bathroom and placing her hand on Mal’s back. “What do you think boys?” 

“I wanna see it. Please.” 

“We get new pyjamas?”

David’s question broke all of their hearts, even James took hold of his twin’s hand, David clearly didn’t understand why he had made them all look sad. 

Lily was the one to break the sad quiet and try to make David and the others smile. “Yeah, we got loads of different ones, and if you don’t like what’s on them I can try and change the pictures on them with my magic.” 

“Yeah!” This was the most enthusiastic James had been, he quickly looked to his brother. “Davey, do you wanna go too?” 

David nodded his head slowly. “Y-Yeah, ‘kay... please.” 

Lily held her hand out and David took it, James let go of his brother’s to hold onto his sister’s. She led them from the bathroom.    
  


* * *

 

 

“They’ll be okay.” Regina rubbed Mal’s back and kissed the side of her head. “Lily’s with them. They’ll be okay and they’ll be back soon.” 

Mal sighed gently. “I know. I know. I’m being stupid.” 

“You’re not, you’re being their mom, which is exactly what they both need. But nothing like that is going to happen to them again. I promise.” Regina managed to hide her own anxiety of the boys not being in the same room, she had been so close to Mal when they had been born that it had felt like it was her sons who were taken too. 

“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do, I mean they’ll need to go to school, and we’ll have to find out what foods they like or hate, and what their interests are, we know nothing about them and we need to-”

“Hey.” Regina hushed softly, running her hand through her fiance's hair. “I know that’s a lot, honestly I do, but let’s just get through tonight, we’ll take it one day at a time. We’ll get the boys to bed then you need some sleep too, we all do, it’s been a long day.” She kissed her crown. “I love you so much. And I’m so glad that we finally have the babies home.” 

Mal leant fully against her. “You always know just what to say. I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

 

The boys came back into the room with Lily, there were smiles on his faces which lit up both Regina and Maleficent’s hearts. 

“Guys, remember what you were going to tell our mom?” Lily whispered in a stage whisper and the boys grinned happily at her.

“I got Spidey-man jammies!” 

“And I got Batman, and Lily and erm Gina maked the room all super.”

“Uh huh, there’s Spidey and Iron Man an’ Captain America!” 

It didn’t surprise Mal that Regia would have made an amazing room, she and Regina had done the same thing for Lily, but Mal was just so happy to see her boys smiling and talking. “Oh wow that sounds amazing, after bath time maybe you can show it to me?” 

“Okay.” James agreed.

“I remember the way to it I can show you.” David promised. 

“Thank you very much, both of you, now how about we get you into this bath?”

Both boys moved closer to her and she remembered that Lily did it when she was very little and needed a lot of help bathing. Regina clearly understood it too, she moved off of the side of the bath to kneel on the floor, luckily she wasn’t wearing one of her usual pantsuits. 

“David, would you like me to help you?”

David bit his lip before nodding and moving to Regina to let her help him undress so Mal could help James. 

Lily’s phone started to ring. “I’m gonna talk to Mulan, I’ll- I’ll come and say goodnight to you guys, yeah?” Lily reached over to them holding out her hand to each of them, the boys both paused before giving her a high five each. “I taught them that.” She informed Regina and Mal with pride clear in her voice.

Mal promised her that they would talk after the boys were asleep. Once Lily was gone Regina and Mal placed both boys into the bubble bath, Regina magicked up some bath toys for the boys, it took them a few minutes, but before long they were enthusiastically playing.

 

* * *

 

Mal and Regina were just so happy to see the boys relaxing and playing together, they giggled and even started chatting to both each other and to Mal and Regina.

They only got them out and dressed in some nice warm superhero pyjamas when the water started getting cold. 

“Are you both sleepy?” She took stock of David’s thumb in his mouth and James yawning. She was relieved when they nodded, she really didn’t want to have to fight to get them into bed. 

 

* * *

 

The boys fell asleep pretty much as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Mal had made sure to leave on the nightlights for both of them, and had told them three times where he room was and if they needed her or Regina to just call for them or come and get them. 

 

* * *

 

More surprisingly, to Mal at least, she fell asleep when her head hit the pillow too. She only woke up later in the morning. It took her a minute to remember the previous day then she rushed to the boy’s room.

Her hand flew to her heart when in the light of the bedside lamp she saw David and James cuddled in bed with Lily between them. 

“Mom?” Lily asked stirring.

“Hey honey.” 

“I heard them crying, I came in and read them a story together, they fell asleep I guess I did too.”

“Thank you honey. They clearly love you a lot. Thank you for being so good and helping with them.”

“I’m glad they’re home. I remember cuddling them in your bed in the morning when they were little.”

“Maybe they remember a little too.” She told her daughter hopefully even though she was sure it couldn’t be quite true, they had been too young, surely they wouldn’t remember. “I was thinking, perhaps, if you want, you could stay off school this week, we can all have some family time, maybe take some trips out?” 

Lily beamed. “Yeah!” The boys stirred a little. “They really like books, James especially, and David was talking all about dinosaurs.” 

“Maybe we could go the bookstore or the library and the museums. You can choose a place for us to go too.” 

“I’m happy doing whatever.” She smiled at her baby brothers, they had missed nearly 6 years together, and now Lily just wanted to do anything they were happy doing.

Mal dropped a kiss on James’, then David’s, then Lily’s heads in turn. She finally had all of her babies back home, it would be hard work, but they were a family again, them and Regina, and they would never lose each other again.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Prompts warmly welcomed for one shots following this. 
> 
>  
> 
> Send them in comments, tweet me @loboselinaff or message me on Tumblr @loboselinaistrash


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